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Iced Green Tea Latte アイス抹茶ラテ

Here’s the drink you’ll be sipping on all summer long: Iced Green Tea Latte. Read on to learn how you can make this smooth and creamy matcha latte in just a few minutes.

I love matcha and one of my favorite drinks that I enjoy in the morning is Iced Green Tea Latte, or Iced Matcha Latte (アイス抹茶ラテ).

How To Make Iced Green Tea Latte アイス抹茶ラテの作り方

Delicious and creamy iced green tea latte is perfect to enjoy on warm days, the best part is you can easily make this drink at home in just a few minutes.

What is Matcha?

In case you are new to matcha, matcha (抹茶) is stone-ground delicate green tea powder made from shade-grown tea leaves.

Although matcha has been around for over 800 years in Japan, its popularity has recently increased globally due to its beautiful visual appeal, health benefits, and distinct flavor. These days many people enjoy green tea drinks, including Green Tea Latte (my recipe here) and Green Tea Crème Frappuccino, both which were first introduced in Starbucks back in 2007.

Matcha also received even more attention when research found out matcha contains lots of antioxidants. Antioxidants are the magical nutrients and enzymes responsible for giving us younger-looking skin, boosting memory, increasing energy level, burning fat, and preventing a number of life-threatening diseases like cancer.

Frequently Asked Questions about Matcha

As I have many matcha recipes, I often receive the following questions about matcha.

1. Are Matcha and Green Tea same thing? What’s the difference?

When you hear the term “Matcha” and “Green Tea”, you might think the terms can be used interchangeably.

The truth is:

Matcha (抹茶) and green tea (we call Sencha* 煎茶) are different and BOTH are categorized as “Green Tea” (Ryokucha* 緑茶).

* Sencha is the regular green tea often served in Japanese restaurants.* Ryokucha includes different types of Japanese green tea such as sencha, gyokuryo, hojicha, genmaicha, and matcha.

How are matcha and green tea (sencha) different? The tea leaf itself, cultivation, processing, nutrients, and taste are all very different. For more info on the topic, please check out the links below.

If you’re curious more about matcha in particular, watch this 5-minute matcha episode on Japanlogy.

Can I grind loose green tea leaves to make green tea powder?

After you read my answer to the previous question, you probably know the answer is no. Even if you grind the leaves, the powder won’t become “matcha” because the tea leaves are grown and processed differently.

Where can I find matcha for Iced Green Tea Latte?

The biggest challenge for Matcha could be finding it locally where you live. The good news is there are online shops that sell and ship green tea powder internationally, so hopefully you’ll be able to find some. If you know your favorite shop carries excellent green tea powder, please leave a comment below and share with other readers.

If you live in the US, try Japanese grocery stores such as Mitsuwa, Marukai, and Nijiya. They sell one of the common matcha brand called Maeda-en (It’s about $8 for culinary grade).

How do you know if it’s good matcha or bad matcha?

Here are several tips to help you to distinguish good vs. bad matcha when you shop.

Origin: Although matcha is also produced outside of Japan, it is generally accepted that higher quality matcha comes from Japan, especially from Nishio (西尾) in Aichi and Uji (宇治) in Kyoto (source).

Color: High quality matcha has a really vibrant green color because tea leaves are shade-grown and they are forced to overproduce chlorophyll, which gives matcha its nice bright green color. Some of my readers asked me why their matcha is yellowish or brownish color. It’s probably due to improper shading or because tea leaves came from lower stalk of the plant which didn’t produce as much chlorophyll.

Price: Unfortunately, there is no “cheap” high quality matcha. Generally speaking, a 1 oz (30 g) tin of ceremonial-grade matcha ranges between $20-30 while the culinary-grade matcha ranges between $10-15.

Also, make sure the matcha you’re purchasing does NOT include sugar in as part of the ingredients!

Let’s Make Homemade Iced Green Tea Latte

If you love iced green tea latte, there’s a good chance you’re buying yours from Starbucks. But have you ever thought of making it at home? It’s way cheaper to make it at home then paying $3+ for the drink. The best part? It’s easy!!

See, if you put the drink in a Starbucks’ cup, it’s just like one you get from the store. 😉

A frother (I use this brand or $2 frother from IKEA) or a tall jar with a lid

Instructions

Simple Syrup

In a small saucepan, combine ¼ cup sugar and ¼ cup water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat and let the sugar dissolve completely, about 3 minutes.

Let it cool completely and transfer to an airtight jar (or glass and cover with plastic). Simple syrup will last up to 1 month in the refrigerator.

Ice Green Tea Latte

Add 2 tsp. matcha in a small bowl. Optionally You can sift matcha to remove any lumps. Then add 2 Tbsp. of hot water (175F / 80C). Whisk briskly until there is no lump (important to avoid lumps in the latte). You can use a small flat whisk, a frother, or chasen (the bamboo whisk used for Japanese tea ceremony).

If you add sweetener, you can add 1-2 Tbsp. of Simple Syrup now or later (in my video I add in the serving glass). Mix well to combine.

Pour the matcha into the glass filled with ice cubes.

Using a frother, make a froth until foamy, about 1.5 to 2 times the original volume of milk (1 cup milk will look like 1½ to 2 cups milk). If you don’t have a frother, you could add milk in a big jar and shake vigorously to make it foamy.

Pour the milk into the glass while saving the foam with a big spoon. Scoop the foam and place it on top of the drink.

Sprinkle matcha powder on top of the foam. Enjoy immediately.

Notes

Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.

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Thanks for this great recipe! I love matcha latte, by now it will rather be a hot version for me, because we actually have -8 here in the early mornings. I often experience stomach pain after drinking matcha, do you have any idea why it comes so? I don’t experience such problems after sencha or other teas…

-8!!!!! Oh my gosh that’s cold. I have never been in that cold temp I think!? 😀

You are not lacrosse intolerant right? I can’t drink too much of cows milk due to lactose intolerance so I either drink a small amount of milk or substitute with almond or soy milk. Wonder if you get stomachache with matcha only (no milk in it). If so… I’m not too sure… Sorry to hear that.

Actually, I’m lactose intolerant, too. I use lactose free or vegan milk alternatives in cooking and of course in drinks. So it seems that is not the couse. I can drink other tea varietes with milk (I love “milky” mugicha, kukicha as well as oolong and lapsang souchong) and nebrr get stomach pain after these. I’m wondering, can it be that just matcha is so concentrated and strong (we do not drink the leaves from other tea varietes, but in matcha we do, right?

Ouh, -8 ot is only the beginning… it gets much much colder… so you know, hot tea with milk is absolutely neccessary!!!

Your kitchen is beautiful. It was worth the wait. Thanks for clarifying the difference between green tea and matcha. I have known they’re not the same but didn’t know how to explain and I’m not an authority. I will share your info with friends. Glad you’re back. Don’t worry about the mess. I have the same, too and I didn’t even remodel. Have a great week, Nami!

Once in a while, I take out my little milk frother to make a cappuccino or latte for my hubby. What a great thing to have this iced green tea latte recipe! We love matcha tea and this looks like a great change from the usual coffee drinks we have. Looks great!

I made a hot version of this by warming the milk then frothing it. I accidentally added too much of the simple syrup so it was a bit sweet but adding more hot milk fixed that. Will try the cold version in the summer. Thanks Nami!

I’m making it as I type this comment (waiting for sugar syrup to cool down). I love Starbucks matcha frappe but sadly the Starbucks in my city closed down. Glad I saw your recipe and can make this at home now 😀

Thanks for the tour of your kitchen, Nami; it’s stunning and so spacious. You will have years of fun in your new kitchen for sure. I love iced tea and this green iced tea will not only give me a lot of antioxidants but keep me cool with the coming hot weather xx

Thank you so much for this research! I guessI have to enjoy matcha latte with less of matcha and more of milk/vegan milk. It is exactly as you wrote, matcha is very energetic and it must be stronger than coffee. Well I hope I will find a point that compromises both the wonderful taste of matcha and my stomach senitivity! Thanks! Have a wonderful fall!

My daughter used to work at Starbucks, so she told me I should try an iced green tea latte with soy unsweetened (it’s not on the menu, but they will make it – also, you have to ask for it to be shaken because the green tea does not mix well in cold, they don’t use a hot base). The soy milk adds a natural sweetness & their matcha blend has some sugar in it already. It was delicious! It is one of my favourite drinks. I also love the hot version. Now I buy matcha & make it myself, much cheaper.

Hi Juiie! Good to hear you have tried it at Starbucks. Yeah, when we order one at Starbucks, green tea powder becomes small balls because they are not dissolved. I don’t know why they don’t premix first… maybe taking a short cut. It’s not so pleasant to drink the tiny balls of matcha. You should definitely use your favorite milk. It’s much cheaper to drink it at home (even though initial investment on buying matcha is painful. 🙂 ).

Is there a significant change of taste between high quality matcha and cheaper matcha?

If matcha is sold cheaply, is it not recommended to purchase those brands even if the ingredients say pure matcha powder? I have seen matcha powder sold on ebay that is selling at $20 for 16 oz, by Red Leaf Tea.

Hi Huyen! If I were you, I wouldn’t buy. But I’m from Japan and have tasted the real flavor of matcha all my life and I’m used to the standard matcha flavors. There is no way you can buy matcha for cheap and if you can, I don’t know how it could be possible… The grade can’t be too good. It can be pure matcha (without sugar or any other things included) but it doesn’t mean it’s high quality.

The difference of high quality and low quality matcha is significant. I actually ordered green tea latte at an Asian cafe past weekend and I was in shocked how horrible the matcha tastes like and the color was yellow green. I feel so bad for customers who have tried it for the first time for matcha experience. It will completely ruin. There is no match flavor. It was just bitter green drink. No fragrance, not taste of matcha. They sweeten enough to hide the strong bitter taste but that makes this drink even worse. I’m sure they use cheap matcha to make this drink.

So… if you are a true matcha fan, do not buy this. If you’re new to matcha, I still say don’t buy it…. well I still can’t recommend. I’m sorry! It doesn’t have to be tea ceremony grade (that’s super expensive) but please buy decent matcha from Japan (it makes a huge difference). Starbucks uses “decent” matcha, by the way. 🙂

Hi Denise! Hope this recipe will work out for you! Get good matcha – it’s the key. 🙂 It shouldn’t go wrong, especially if you have tasted matcha and like it (since the first timer might think matcha is strange). 🙂